Use of conditioning time to investigate the mechanisms of interactions of selected fatty acids on hematite Part II laboratory investigations

It is the aim of this paper to examine the effects of conditioning time on the flotation of hematite using three technical grade fatty acid reagents as providing additional evidence on their mechanism of interaction with the hematite surface. Various mechanisms have been postulated as occurring as conditioning time is increased. Both physical (e.g. conditioning time and power input) and chemical (nature, dispersion and solubility of the adsorbing species) contribute to the mechanisms of attachment of collector. In this paper, the mechanism of attachment of oleate to hematite can be readily explained by chemisorption, but the mechanism of attachment of lauric acid appears to be physical adsorption at neutral pH. The flotation of hematite with a mixture of tallow-type fatty acids (palmitic, stearic and oleic acids) is very sensitive to conditioning time, and suggests that, even though flotation is very effective at short conditioning times, it is very susceptible to the presence of fines and their associated high surface areas. It is therefore obvious that both the physical and chemical conditions contribute to the mechanisms of adsorption of fatty acids on iron-containing oxide minerals and must be understood in order to optimise the flotation of these minerals in an industrial situation.     

Using d-limonene as the non-aromatic and non-chlorinated solvent for the fabrications of high performance polymer light-emitting diodes and field-effect transistors

Aiming to environment protection, green solvents are crucial for commercialization of solution-processed optoelectronic devices. In this work, d-limonene, a natural product, was introduced as the non-aromatic and non-chlorinated solvent for processing of polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) and organic field effect transistors (OFETs). It was found that d-limonene could be a good solvent for a blue-emitting polyfluorene-based random copolymer for PLEDs and an alternating copolymer FBT-Th₄(1,4) with high hole mobility (μ_h) for OFETs. In comparisons to routine solvent-casted films of the two conjugated polymers, the resulting d-limonene-deposited films could show comparable film qualities, based on UV–vis absorption spectra and observations by atomic force microscopy (AFM). With d-limonene as the processing solvent, efficient blue PLEDs with CIE coordinates of (0.16, 0.16), maximum external quantum efficiency of 3.57%, and luminous efficiency of 3.66 cd/A, and OFETs with outstanding μ_h of 1.06 cm² (V s)⁻¹ were demonstrated. Our results suggest that d-limonene would be a promising non-aromatic and non-chlorinated solvent for solution processing of conjugated polymers and molecules for optoelectronic device applications.     

Influence of Si-Doping on the Performance of InGaN/GaN Multiple Quantum Well Solar Cells

Semiconductors - The performance of InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) solar cells with five different Si-doping concentrations, namely 0, 4 × 1017 cm–3, 1 × 1018 cm–3, 3...     

Thermal degradation of corn starch based biodegradable plastic plates and determination of kinetic parameters by isoconversional methods using thermogravimetric analyzer

Oil shortage and awareness of environment pollution leads to the extensive use of biodegradable starch-based materials against synthetic plastics. The accumulated wastes of these plastics takes more time for natural recycling and the process is complex. Therefore the best option of recycling would be to convert these polymers into a source of energy by pyrolysis. So to understand the pyrolytic behaviour, kinetics of such waste plastics is studied by using thermogravimetric analysis at different heating rates of 10 °C, 20 °C, 40 °C, 60 °C, 80 °C and 100 °C in nitrogen atmosphere followed by characterization of the pyrolysis products. The kinetic parameters are obtained for two major stages of decomposition in two different temperature ranges 250–620 °C and 620–855 °C by iso-conversional methods such as Friedman, Coats-Redfern, FWO and Kissinger methods. The regression coefficient data (>0.9) of kinetic plots obtained for different methods best fits to the kinetic equation. Empirical formula of the compound is determined by ultimate analysis is CH_2.214S_0.0018O_0.6910. Proximate analysis gives the idea of volatile component which is74.33%. The range of average value of activation energy is 120.7013 kJ/mol to 140.7707 kJ/mol for the biodegradable plastic plate with different conversion (0.1–0.6) and (0.1–0.3) respectively at two different temperatures. The pyrolysis products obtained using a semi-batch reactor are characterized to know their composition and other properties.     

Within-class multimodal classification

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In many real-world classification problems there exist multiple subclasses (or clusters) within a class; in other words, the underlying data distribution is...     

Investigation of flame spray synthesized La1-xSrxCoO3 perovskites with promotional catalytic performances on CO oxidation

To enhance the activity of catalysts for CO removal, the perovskite-type catalysts La_1-xSr_xCoO₃ (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8) with different Sr²⁺ doping amount were synthesized by flame spray synthesis (FSS) method. The perovskite-type catalyst synthesized by FSS has a much larger specific surface area (SSA) than that prepared by other conventional methods. The SSA of catalyst increases with the increase of Sr²⁺ doping amount and the SSA of La_0.2Sr_0.8CoO₃ reaches 31.65 m²/g. Compared with other conventional methods, FSS method significantly improves the activity of catalyst and makes it close to the performances of catalysts with surface modification. The substitution of La³⁺ by Sr²⁺ promotes the generation of secondary phase Co₃O₄ and SrCO₃. The catalytic activity of La_1-xSr_xCoO₃ increases with the addition of Sr²⁺, which results from the increasing active sites and oxygen vacancies. Interestingly, La_0.4Sr_0.6CoO₃ performs the highest activity for CO oxidation and the CO conversion reaches 50% at 148.6 °C and 90% at 165.9 °C. The oxidation of CO over La_1-xSr_xCoO₃ catalyst may follow a combination of MvK and L-H mechanisms according to the experimental results of H₂-TPR. Moreover, the catalyst exhibits good catalytic activity in consecutive oxidation cycles. In consecutive oxidation experiments with La_0.4Sr_0.6CoO₃, the CO conversion reaches 50% at 168.8 °C and 90% at 197.8 °C in the eighth oxidation cycle. These results prove that FSS method can further improve the activity of catalysts and is suitable for the preparation of efficient catalysts.     

Effect of grinding-induced cyclic heating on the hardened layer generation in the plunge grinding of a cylindrical component

This paper discusses the effects of the grinding-induced cyclic heating on the properties of the hardened layer in a plunge cylindrical grinding process on the high strength steel EN26. It was found that a multi-pass grinding brings about a uniform and continuous hardened layer along the circumference of the cylindrical workpiece. An increase of the number of grinding passes, leads to a thicker layer of hardening, a larger compressive residual stress and a deeper plastic deformation zone. Within the plastic deformation zone, the martensitic grains are refined by the thermo-mechanical loading, giving rise to a hardness of 12.5% higher than that from a conventional martensitic transformation. The coupled effects of heat accumulation and wheel wear in the multi-pass grinding are the main causes for the thickening of the hardened layer. A too small infeed per workpiece revolution would result in insufficient grinding heat, and in turn, bring about an undesirable tempered hardened layer and a reduction of its hardness.     

Promoting Bone Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Inhibiting Bacterial Adhesion of Acid-Etched Nanostructured Titanium by Ultraviolet Functionalization

Titanium(Ti) and its alloys are used extensively in orthopedic implants because of their excellent biocompatibility,mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. However,titanium-based implant materials face many severe complications,such as implant loosening due to poor osseointegration and bacterial infections,which may lead to implant failure. Hence,preparing a biomaterial surface,which enhances the interactions with host cells and inhibits bacterial adhesion,may be an optimal strategy to reduce the incidence of implant failure. This study aims to improve osseointegration and confer antibacterial properties on Ti through a combination of two surface modifications including nanostructuring generated by acid etching and ultraviolet(UV) light treatment.Our results showed that without UV treatment,the acid etching treatment of Ti surface was effective at both improving the adhesion of bone mesenchymal stem cells(BMSCs) and increasing bacterial adhesion. A further UV treatment of the acid-etched surface however,not only significantly improved the cell adhesion but also inhibited bacterial adhesion. The acid-etched nanostructured titanium with UV treatment also showed a significant enhancement on cell proliferation,alkaline phosphatase(ALP) activity and mineralization. These results suggest that such nanostructured materials with UV treatment can be expected to have a good potential in orthopedic applications.